The Other Guys Review

For the last few decades, the buddy cop genre has been a fertile ground for laughs.

The often over-the-top nature of these action movies (ridiculous car chases, extravagant shootouts where the good guys never get shot and rarely miss) naturally lends itself to comedy.

Still, the most important part of any cop comedy is the chemistry between the two leads, whether it’s a black guy and a white guy (“Lethal Weapon”, “48 Hours”, etc.), two black guys (“Bad Boys”), two white guys (“Starsky and Hutch”), two English white guys (“Hot Fuzz”), a black guy and an Asian guy (“Rush Hour”), an Asian guy and a Jay Leno or a black woman and a dinosaur. (Ok, so maybe the genre isn’t ALWAYS totally fertile for laughs.)

My point is that it’s pretty difficult to approach this thing from a fresh angle. For a while there, “The Other Guys” accomplishes just that.

The action comedy from director Adam McKay (“Anchorman”, “Talladega Nights”) stars Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as mismatched partners Allen Gamble and Terry Hoitz.

I loved the movie’s first 20 minutes, which established Gamble, Hoitz and the rest of the NYPD as the “other guys” to star cops Highsmith and Danson (Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne “No Longer The Rock” Johnson), who we meet as they make a ridiculous, high-profile arrest involving automatic weapons, explosions and a double-decker bus. I thought the idea of focusing on the cop movie characters who are usually stuck on the fringes of this type of flick was clever and interesting.

However, once Highsmith and Danson are out of the way — and Gamble and Hoitz attempt to step in and fill the void — the movie becomes more of a standard action comedy…and I lost a good amount of interest

The good news is that Ferrell is pretty brilliant in this thing. He gives an incredibly detailed performance as the mild-mannered, safety-conscious Gamble, which only make his occasional (and totally believable) explosions into a badass persona more effective and hilarious. This is Ferrell and McKay’s fourth big-screen collaboration, so I wouldn’t have been shocked if Ferrell’s work had been indulgently improv-y and full of random, inconsequential tangents. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he’s relatively restrained and very generous in this role — his best work in years.

The bad news is that Wahlberg (save for a few stray one liners) is completely annoying in this movie. I get that Hoitz is SUPPOSED to be the angry, scream-y hot head (he’s stuck with Gamble as a partner after accidentally shooting Derek Jeter). Unfortunately, that doesn’t make his performance any less grating. Gamble actually sums it up perfectly by telling Hoitz that his constant anger and screaming is “exhausting.” Sadly, Wahlberg is more exhausting than funny in this role and his finest comedic performance remains his work in “The Happening.”

You may or may not have noticed that I haven’t mentioned anything about the plot. That’s because the movie’s main storyline — involving a shady financial guru played by Steve Coogan…and I think Anne Heche showed up at one point — is a major snoozer.

To be honest, I wish there had been LESS attempts at a plot and more of the random, inconsequential tangents that I talked about a few paragraphs ago (ala “Anchorman”, which I quote at least once a day, whether I mean to or not). Even some of the funniest stuff involving Coogan — the way he manages to bribe the clueless Gamble and Hoitz — were throwaway gags that had little to do with the main plot.

That sort of bit is my favorite thing about “The Other Guys.” Rob Riggle and Damon Wayans Jr. get some laughs as a rival pair of partners. Ray Stevenson does strong work, even if he’s acting in a slightly more serious movie than anyone else. And it’s REALLY good to see Michael Keaton back on movie screens, even if his TLC-obsessed police captain was underwritten.

I really wanted to love “The Other Guys”, but instead I ended up just liking parts of it. (I can’t believe I never considered who would win a confrontation between a lion and tuna.) It mostly squandered a novel concept, but it DOES feature a great performance by Will Ferrell…even if you have to put up with an irritating one from Mark Wahlberg.

The Other Guys…B-